The Miami Dolphins didn't play a game last weekend, but sometimes you must celebrate the little wins.
With the team on a bye week to decompress and rejuvenate for the rest of the season, it's time for fans to come together and engage in a bit of therapy themselves — mental therapy, that is. Let's talk things out and find the silver linings as the Dolphins head into the final 12 games of the year.
Whether we like it or not, those 12 games are going to be played, so we might as well talk about how the post-bye Dolphins may reveal a new football team.
The NFL's Second-Easiest Remaining Schedule
According to the sports website Tankathon, the Dolphins have the second-easiest remaining schedule in the NFL. Their upcoming opponents have a combined winning percentage of .426, giving Miami plenty of winnable games.Winnable is relative, of course. And those statistics work both ways. Somewhere, someone else is writing about how it's good news that their team has the Dolphins left on the schedule.
The "Easy" East
Somehow, the Dolphins are just a game and a half out of first place in the AFC East.Divisional play can make or break a season, and the Dolphins have four more games against AFC East opponents (Bills, Patriots, and two against the Jets). There have been instances of teams with sub-.500 records making the playoffs simply because they won their division, and that might not be out of the question in the AFC East this season.
Tua Appreciation
For all his flaws, we haven't heard much from the Tua haters yet. That's because what the Dolphins have behind him in the quarterback room is barely up to Canadian Football League standards.Tua Tagovailoa's eventual return gives the Dolphins a significant boost to look forward to. There are always concerns about his health, but having your starting quarterback back under center significantly improves your chances and your morale as you head into the juicy part of the schedule.
Tua is expected to return after this weekend's game against the Indianapolis Colts. The worst-case scenario is that he comes back to a 2-4 team with a shot at the AFC East title. The best-case scenario is that he returns to a 3-3 team one game out of first in the AFC East and (as we said) looking ahead to one of the easiest schedules in the NFL.
Enthusiasm, Curbed
Remember when everyone wanted to give the Dolphins offense a nickname and wondered if Miami had the best offense of all time? We didn't! The Dolphins have been humbled after a hot start, which could be a blessing in disguise for the team and its coach, Mike McDaniel, who was labeled a wunderkind offensive genius before this season.Motivation is a helluva drug. Miami should have plenty of that going for it, as no one expects greatness from them.
A more relevant and honest way to put it is this: Everyone on the Dolphins is playing either for his job or to ensure he isn't selling that house in Miami Beach for real estate in Wisconsin.
The Beckham Effect
Odell Beckham Jr. returned to the field last week in limited action. Still, his anticipated full return in the coming weeks could give the Dolphins offense a dynamic playmaker who can stretch defenses and create mismatches — something the offense hasn't fully experienced yet.For years, it's been Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, and not much else. The Dolphins knew that entering this offseason, which is why they signed Beckham and drafted two wide receivers (who have yet to make much of an impact owing to their own injuries).
It's almost as if the Dolphins made a trade in order to boost their receiving corps midseason. Beckham's ability to make big plays and take pressure off Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle could open up the offense in ways we haven't yet seen.
It's not all bad news. Hold on, Dolphins fans. It's a long season, and clearer skies may be on the way.
